Late last autumn
while there was still a sun in the sky and warmth in the air, I paid a visit
to one of the antique shops in Cardiff that sells World War One military
memorabilia. Like a magpie I was drawn to the small shiny objects in the
display cabinet and after much negotiation I walked away as the new (if temporary)
owner of various medals and a Silver War Badge.

The Silver War Badge.

Silver War Badges
were issued from 1916 until 1922 to officers and men who had served for at
least seven consecutive days from August 4th 1914. Entitlement for the badge
was gained by leaving the service through being disabled by wounds, sickness or
old age.

The badges were
created, in part, as a reaction to one of the most intimidatory tactics on the
civilian front - the handing out of white feathers, for cowardice, to men not
in uniform. War veterans and injured servicemen were not immune, a plight
recognised by the War Office in awarding Silver War Badges they could wear
pinned to their civilian clothes to show any potential doubters that they had
not evaded their duty.

The badge bears
the inscription ‘For King and Empire’ and ‘Services Rendered’ around the border
with the crown and cipher of King George V in the centre. The reverse has a
number and/or a prefix stamped on it.

The silver war
badge I bought for £25 has a horizontal pin and the serial number 200282 on the
reverse. Numbers 1-360,000 were created between September 1916 and March 1918
and full details linking the number to the solider can be traced via Ancestry’s website.

I learned
that Silver War Badge number 200282 was awarded to Private Arthur Edward
Sweetingham of the 5th Battalion Gloucester Regiment, whose regimental number
was 241818. He had enlisted on 11 December 1915 and was discharged on 20 June 1917
due to sickness.

The code ‘K.Regs
Para 392 xvi’ is given which simply means that under the King's Regulation,
Arthur Sweetingham was no longer physically fit for war service as per the
details provided in his pension record.

A quick look at
his pension record on Ancestry confirms that Arthur E Sweetingham was born on 3
December 1887 and revealed that he suffered from neurasthenia, nerves,
headaches and disturbed sleep. As good a case of shell shock or post-traumatic
stress disorder as you'll find.

He was admitted to
Wharncliffe War Hospital in Sheffield on 23 October 1916 and discharged in June
1917 after spending 133 days in hospital. The date of the origin of his
disability is given as 13 October 1916, when he was involved in an incident
whilst carrying bombs as far as the communication trench.

The pension record
also reveals that Arthur was five foot five and a quarter inches tall, with
blue eyes and a vaccination scar on his left arm and that he was a gardener.

Before the war
started, Arthur lived on the Isle of Wight with his parents William and Agnes
who married in 1882 and his siblings Albert, Beatrice, Percy and Ethel. At
times the family lived at Barley Field Cottage which still stands today.

Barley Field Cottage on the left. Image courtesy of Barry Sowerby, Friends of Northwood Cemetery.

Since my aim was
to return the Silver War Badge to Arthur’s descendants I was keen to learn
whether he had married and had children. I discovered that Arthur married Mary
Ann Crabb in 1918 and later that year their only child Irene was born. However,
Irene never married, so when she died in 2008 Arthur’s direct bloodline died
out.

Out of Arthur’s
four siblings Albert was a bachelor, Percy died in World War One and Ethel died
in 1919, as did their father William, both possibly victims of the influenza
epidemic. Full details of their graves were kindly sent to me by a local
society called the Friends
of Northwood Cemetery, who confirmed that there were no headstones.

Therefore I
focused my attention on Arthur’s only surviving sibling Beatrice, who married
George Duffin in 1913. She also only had one child but luckily Doris Duffin
survived and had four children of her own following her marriage to Ronald
Driscoll.

I am pleased to
confirm that the Silver War Badge now takes pride of place in the home of
Arthur Sweetingham’s great nephew, which is where it belongs.

Another happy
ending.

To hear me solving more family history puzzles, listen to the Eleri Sion show on 26
February and 26 March on BBC Radio Wales.